


To Fall Apart: an Apparition!AU Drabble

by galactic_roses



Series: Klaus Drabble Fics [1]
Category: Klaus (2019)
Genre: Drabble, Gen, General Creepiness, Ghost!AU, apparition!au, sort of ghost death?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:55:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22323694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galactic_roses/pseuds/galactic_roses
Summary: This is a quick, dark piece I wrote after thinking about a sort of ghost/apparition au
Series: Klaus Drabble Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617958
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	To Fall Apart: an Apparition!AU Drabble

Jesper has always been a little curious about why the ferryman is so careful not to touch anyone. He supposes it’s not the strangest thing; some people just aren’t a huge fan of human contact, but he’s noticed that the ferryman takes particular care to avoid brushing against anyone in any way. He’s noticed it while helping the man with outgoing mail. He’s noticed it while on the ferry to the mainland. He’s noticed it when the ferryman visits him in the post office on occasion.

It might not be that obvious, except one day the man actually _jumps_ back to avoid touching Jesper’s skin when the postman tries to hand him a sack of mail. Jesper tries to make a joke about it, but his words fall flat, and silence stretches between them. Meeting the ferryman’s eyes, Jesper shivers. Something in them isn’t normal. However, the man looks away before Jesper can place what isn’t quite… right.

Jesper can’t help but be curious now. He pays careful attention to his interaction with the ferryman now. Each time they’re in the same room, Jesper finds his eyes following the man wherever he moves. He seems to have no problem grasping door handles, the backs of chairs, or bags of mail, but he still won’t let anyone touch him.

Jesper considers asking, but it seems like a rude question, or simply out of place in their relationship as postman and ferryman, but he can’t help but wonder. He dwells on the thoughts, until they keep him awake at night, and he begins to resort to late night wanderings to clear his head.

It’s during one of these late night wanderings that Jesper sees the ferryman by the docks, tying up a rope with a movement that spoke to many years of hard practice. Jesper pauses to appraise the man. What makes him tick? Why does he refuse to make even the slightest physical connection with anyone?

If it wasn’t for the flickering of the nearby lamp, Jesper would never have noticed, but the lamp does flicker slightly, and it illuminates the lines of the ferryman’s body, but it doesn’t do something it should always do. Jesper stares. As long as he looks, and as much as the ferryman moves, the light refuses to acknowledge the man’s presence. He doesn’t cast a shadow.

“You weren’t supposed to see,” the ferryman says softly, looking up from his rope as Jesper steps back with a gasp, “No one is supposed to know. _No one can know._ ”

Jesper can hardly draw air into the gaping cavity that once was his chest. Is he seeing things? Maybe he’d finally crossed the threshold of losing sleep, to the point of hallucination?

“You weren’t supposed to see,” the ferryman repeats, his voice but an echo rising from the dark ocean. “You weren’t supposed to know.”

And Jesper reaches out, aghast, to try to grip the shoulder he can still clearly see, yet his hand slides through the solidness he perceives, feeling only empty air meet his fingertips.

“You weren’t supposed to know.”

The whisper is carried by the night breeze, floating to Jesper’s stunned ears as the image of the ferryman begins to fade, and a clatter of bones and dust fall to the floor of the boat where the man had been standing only a breath before.

_“You weren’t supposed to know.”_


End file.
